--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Perhaps there is another kind of writing…" description: "\"“Perhaps there is another kind of writing, I only know this one, in the night, when anxiety does not let me sleep, I only know this one. And what is de..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f0e/franz-kafka-214_anxiety_perhaps-there-is-another-kind-of-writing_1880923.jpg" --- # Perhaps there is another kind of writing, I only know this… ![“Perhaps there is another kind of writing, I only know this one, in the night, when anxiety does not let me sleep, I only know this one. And what is devilish in it seems to me quite clear. It is the vanity and the craving for enjoyment, which is forever whirring around oneself or even around…” quote by Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f0e/franz-kafka-214_anxiety_perhaps-there-is-another-kind-of-writing_1880923.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f0e/franz-kafka-214_anxiety_perhaps-there-is-another-kind-of-writing_1880923.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f0e/franz-kafka-214_anxiety_perhaps-there-is-another-kind-of-writing_1880923.jpg) > ““Perhaps there is another kind of writing, I only know this one, in the night, when anxiety does not let me sleep, I only know this one. And what is devilish in it seems to me quite clear. It is the vanity and the craving for enjoyment, which is forever whirring around oneself or even around someone else...and enjoying it. The wish that a naive person sometimes has: "I would like to die and watch others crying over me," is what such a writer constantly experiences: he dies (or he does not live) and continually cries over himself”” [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage reflects a writer’s struggle with anxiety, vanity, and a morbid desire for recognition, leading to self‑destructive introspection. **In simple terms:** Anxious writers chase fame, feeling trapped. Key Takeaway Beware of letting anxiety drive your art. Themes anxiety vanity self‑destruction Mood introspective somber Type literary psychological When to use this quote - creative process - mental health - artistic ambition Key Concepts literature psychology Questions to Reflect On - What fuels your creative anxiety? - How can you channel it healthily? A Different Perspective Obsession may harm well‑being. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Anxiety](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anxiety/) [Craving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/craving/) [Crying Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crying-writer-2656284/) [Desire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire/) [Vanity Craving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vanity-craving-2656285/) [Whirring Oneself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whirring-oneself-2656286/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writer Constantly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer-constantly-1287388/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [As a writer, I am constantly aware that I take my life in my hands with everything I do and say. It's just a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohsin-hamid/as-a-writer-i-am-constantly-aware-that-i-take-my-life-in-my-hands/) [Mohsin Hamid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohsin-hamid/) > [If you're a writer, you're constantly doubting yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-king/if-you-re-a-writer-you-re-constantly-doubting-yourself/) [Tom King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-king/) > [Memory, with its fugitive adjustments, is the merciful veil to the grim enactments of the first law. It hides the anguish in the human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stacy-aumonier/memory-with-its-fugitive-adjustments-is-the-merciful-veil-to-the-grim/) [Stacy Aumonier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stacy-aumonier/) > [The worst passion we mortals cherish is the desire to possess. Even when we know that our final destination is a hole not more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-t-suzuki/the-worst-passion-we-mortals-cherish-is-the-desire-to-possess-even/) [D.T. Suzuki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-t-suzuki/) > [You don't want to love - your eternal and abnormal craving is to be loved. You aren't positive, you're negative. You absorb, absorb, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-don-t-want-to-love-your-eternal-and-abnormal-craving-is-to-be/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [How are we to account for the strange human craving for the pleasure of feeling afraid which is so much involved in our love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/how-are-we-to-account-for-the-strange-human-craving-for-the-pleasure/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [Fie on the eloquence that leaves us craving itself, not things!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/fie-on-the-eloquence-that-leaves-us-craving-itself-not-things/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [When we think carefully, we see that the brief elation we experience when appeasing sensual impulses may not be very different from what the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dalai-lama/when-we-think-carefully-we-see-that-the-brief-elation-we-experience/) [Dalai Lama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dalai-lama/) > [I had left home (like all Jewish girls) in order to eat pork and take birth control pills. When I first shared an intimate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roseanne-barr/i-had-left-home-like-all-jewish-girls-in-order-to-eat-pork-and-take/) [Roseanne Barr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roseanne-barr/) > [Pleasure simply brings more craving, but the problem is that we try to get contentment through pleasure. True contentment can only come through service.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sri-sri-ravi-shankar/pleasure-simply-brings-more-craving-but-the-problem-is-that-we-try-to/) [Sri Sri Ravi Shankar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sri-sri-ravi-shankar/) > [People who do not understand themselves have a craving for understanding — a thing which is rather surmised and never spoken than known and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilhelm-stekel/people-who-do-not-understand-themselves-have-a-craving-for/) [Wilhelm Stekel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilhelm-stekel/) > [When I look at you all I see is heartbreak waiting to happen. And I can't tell if it's because of love. Or loneliness.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ream/when-i-look-at-you-all-i-see-is-heartbreak-waiting-to-happen-and-i/) [Ream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ream/) > [I dream of a love that is more than two people craving to possess one another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irvin-d-yalom/i-dream-of-a-love-that-is-more-than-two-people-craving-to-possess-one/) [Irvin D. Yalom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irvin-d-yalom/) > [By the time they were pulling into the parking lot of the A&P, the mood was fading, the moment gone. Amy could feel it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-strout/by-the-time-they-were-pulling-into-the-parking-lot-of-the-a-p-the/) [Elizabeth Strout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-strout/) > [“The more the soul loves the word, the more craving it has after it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gurnall/the-more-the-soul-loves-the-word-the-more-craving-it-has-after-it/) [William Gurnall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gurnall/) ## More by Franz Kafka > [ “The tremendous world I have inside my head. But how \[to\] free myself and free it without being torn to pieces. And a thousand… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/the-tremendous-world-i-have-inside-my-head-but-how-to-free-myself-and/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) > [What I write is different from what I say, what I say is different from what I think, what I think is different from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/what-i-write-is-different-from-what-i-say-what-i-say-is-different/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) > [“A fine setting for a fit of despair,” it occurred to him, “if I were only standing here by accident instead of design.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/a-fine-setting-for-a-fit-of-despair-it-occurred-to-him-if-i-were-only/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) > [“Ali svi se slažu u tome da se ne podižu lakomislene optužbe i da se sud, kad jedanput nekog optuži i kad je uvjeren…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/ali-svi-se-sla-u-u-tome-da-se-ne-podi-u-lakomislene-optu-be-i-da-se/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) > [My job is unbearable to me because it conflicts with my only desire and my only calling, which is literature. Since I am nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/my-job-is-unbearable-to-me-because-it-conflicts-with-my-only-desire/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) > [Faith, like a guillotine. As heavy, as light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/faith-like-a-guillotine-as-heavy-as-light/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) > [You need not even listen, just wait...the world will offer itself freely to you, unmasking itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/you-need-not-even-listen-just-wait-the-world-will-offer-itself-freely/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) > [“I will cross hundreds of seas and oceans without sinking to reach you, see your eyes and sink completely into their depths.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/i-will-cross-hundreds-of-seas-and-oceans-without-sinking-to-reach-you/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) > [I have no memory for things I have learned, nor things I have read, nor things experienced or heard, neither for people nor events;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/i-have-no-memory-for-things-i-have-learned-nor-things-i-have-read-nor/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) > [“This sounds crazy, but it is so. Nor is it perhaps really love when I say that for me you are the most beloved;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/this-sounds-crazy-but-it-is-so-nor-is-it-perhaps-really-love-when-i/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) > [The more horses you yoke the quicker everything will go - not the rending of the block from its foundation, which is impossible, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/the-more-horses-you-yoke-the-quicker-everything-will-go-not-the/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) > [Martyrs do not underrate the body, they allow it to be elevated on the cross. In this they are at one with their antagonists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/martyrs-do-not-underrate-the-body-they-allow-it-to-be-elevated-on-the/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) > [The true way goes over a line that, rather than spanning heights, is hardly above the ground. It appears more decidedly to make one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/the-true-way-goes-over-a-line-that-rather-than-spanning-heights-is/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) > [Every new discovery is assumed at once into the sum total of knowledge, and with that ceases in a sense to be a discovery;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/every-new-discovery-is-assumed-at-once-into-the-sum-total-of/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) > [“Sou de pedra. 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If I'm nervous I know I'm going to have a good show.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beyonce-knowles/i-get-nervous-when-i-don-t-get-nervous-if-i-m-nervous-i-know-i-m/) [Beyonce Knowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beyonce-knowles/) > [“Every invention comes through anxiousness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rakesh-wadhwani/every-invention-comes-through-anxiousness/) [Rakesh Wadhwani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rakesh-wadhwani/) > [“Do Not Be Anxious 25 e “Therefore I tell you,  f do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/do-not-be-anxious-25-e-therefore-i-tell-you-f-do-not-be-anxious-about/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Nothing happens on its own, you have to make things happen. If you really want to come out of your stressful situation than you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/subodh-gupta/nothing-happens-on-its-own-you-have-to-make-things-happen-if-you/) [Subodh Gupta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/subodh-gupta/) > [“I guess if we're talking about my anxiety, the even truthier truth is it started way before that.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kerry-winfrey/i-guess-if-we-re-talking-about-my-anxiety-the-even-truthier-truth-is/) [Kerry Winfrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kerry-winfrey/) > [I was a very good student. Procrastinating gives me anxiety, and getting a B really ticked me off. Sure, I didn't always want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josie-loren/i-was-a-very-good-student-procrastinating-gives-me-anxiety-and/) [Josie Loren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josie-loren/) > [“The suspense: the fearful, acute suspense: of standing idly by while the life of one we dearly love, is trembling in the balance; the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/the-suspense-the-fearful-acute-suspense-of-standing-idly-by-while-the/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [The party in Alobar’s head, which agitation and anxiety were throwing, now was crashed by a notion: existence can be rearranged.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/the-party-in-alobar-s-head-which-agitation-and-anxiety-were-throwing/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [As you know, I have been very open about my struggle with social anxiety.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/summer-walker/as-you-know-i-have-been-very-open-about-my-struggle-with-social/) [Summer Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/summer-walker/) > [Anxiety is not to be managed it is a sin that needs to be repented of](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-driscoll/anxiety-is-not-to-be-managed-it-is-a-sin-that-needs-to-be-repented-of/) [Mark Driscoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-driscoll/) > [“I’ve always seen this in you, ever since you were a little girl — this hunger to love other people into their highest selves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-elisabeth/i-ve-always-seen-this-in-you-ever-since-you-were-a-little-girl-this/) [Jennifer Elisabeth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-elisabeth/) [Browse all 4,944 Anxiety quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anxiety/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Perhaps there is another kind of writing, I only know this one, in the night, when anxiety does not let me sleep, I only know this one. 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